As Unemployment Reaches 10.3% in NEPA, Sestak Continues Call for Job-Killing Cap-and-Trade and Moratorium on Shale Development
For Immediate Release—June 29, 2010
Contact: Nachama Soloveichik • Communications Director • 484.809.7994 • 646.528.1029
Contact: Kristin Anderson • Deputy Communications Director • 484.809.7994 • 612.280.5196
Contact: Tim Kelly • Press Secretary • 484.809.7994
Allentown, PA – As unemployment reaches an 18-year high of 10.3% in Northeast Pennsylvania (Scranton Times-Tribune, 06/29/10), Joe Sestak remains alone on the fringe-left in calling for policies that will kill more jobs, like a cap-and-trade energy tax and a moratorium on development of the Marcellus Shale.
“As Pennsylvanians struggle with increased unemployment, Congressman Joe Sestak continues to adopt draconian policies that are rejected by Democrats and Republicans across the state because they will kill jobs,” U.S. Senate candidate and former small business owner Pat Toomey said. “With its bountiful resources, Pennsylvania’s Northeast region will be especially hurt by Sestak’s cap-and-trade energy tax and moratorium on Marcellus Shale development. It is clear that Congressman Sestak is simply too far outside the mainstream for Pennsylvania. I support the safe and responsibly regulated development of the Marcellus Shale.”
According to numerous studies, a cap-and-trade energy tax will destroy between 47,000 and 97,000 jobs in Pennsylvania in the near future and will cause electricity and gas prices to skyrocket (Beacon Hill Institute, June 2009) (National Association of Manufacturers, August 2009). Even President Obama admitted that under his plan electricity prices “would necessarily skyrocket” (San Francisco Chronicle, January 2008) and his own Department of Energy says that over time the bill would reduce job creation by hundreds of thousands of jobs (Factcheck.org, 10/27/09).
It is no wonder that four Pennsylvania Democrats joined all Pennsylvania Republicans in voting against this job-destroying legislation, including Rep. Chris Carney (PA-10) who represents the Northeast region.
Not only did Congressman Sestak vote for this energy tax (RC #477, 06/26/09), he has argued that it did not go far enough, saying the onerous bill “should have been even more” (Senate Forum Urban Issues, 05/03/10).
And it gets worse. Congressman Sestak is the only statewide candidate supporting a draconian moratorium on the development of the Marcellus Shale, putting him to the left of Democratic governor Ed Rendell and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato.
Congressman Sestak: “I have, in an op-ed last year, said we need a moratorium until we get the environmental safeguards correct . . . My take is, this is a boon only if done, however, under a correct environmental safeguard that is not there—it is just not there—I believe that because I don’t know what’s going in and I don’t know how we can best protect what’s going in. Until we have that, we should have a moratorium” (Town Hall Meeting, 06/12/10).
Dan Onorato: “A moratorium is not the answer. That just stops everything. This is a golden opportunity for Pennsylvania” (WTAE ABC, 06/21/10).
Governor Rendell: “If you’re looking for a way to produce energy that is mistake-free, stop looking. What we have to do is draw the balance the right way and try to prevent as much damage (as possible) from happening” (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 06/13/10).
In 2010, natural gas extraction in the Marcellus Shale is projected to create 88,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, according to a recent Penn State study. In 2009, the Marcellus Shale created more than 44,000 jobs in Pennsylvania and added $389 million in state and local revenue (The Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, May 2010).
